diff --git a/apps/api/src/jobs/awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py b/apps/api/src/jobs/awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
index 49224ecc5..bc2966aee 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/jobs/awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
+++ b/apps/api/src/jobs/awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@ async def verify_ansible_candidate_pre_decision_evidence(
                       AND NULLIF(recent_logs, '') IS NOT NULL
                       AND EXISTS (
                           SELECT 1
-                          FROM jsonb_each(coalesce(mcp_health, '{}'::jsonb)) health
+                          FROM jsonb_each(
+                              coalesce(CAST(mcp_health AS jsonb), '{}'::jsonb)
+                          ) health
                           WHERE health.value = 'true'::jsonb
                       )
                 )
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/test_awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py b/apps/api/tests/test_awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
index 32d993825..c3162cd97 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/test_awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
+++ b/apps/api/tests/test_awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job.py
@@ -160,6 +160,46 @@ async def test_backfill_retries_automatically_when_predecision_evidence_is_incom
     recorder.assert_not_awaited()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_predecision_verifier_casts_json_health_to_jsonb(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    from src.jobs import awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job as job
+
+    statements: list[str] = []
+
+    class ScalarResult:
+        def scalar(self):
+            return True
+
+    class FakeDb:
+        async def execute(self, statement, _parameters):
+            statements.append(str(statement))
+            return ScalarResult()
+
+    @asynccontextmanager
+    async def fake_db_context(project_id: str = "awoooi"):
+        assert project_id == "awoooi"
+        yield FakeDb()
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(job, "get_db_context", fake_db_context)
+    snapshot = MagicMock(
+        snapshot_id="evidence-1",
+        incident_id="INC-20260627-NODE110",
+        sensors_succeeded=1,
+        recent_logs="sanitized logs",
+        mcp_health={"ssh_diagnose": True},
+    )
+
+    verified = await job.verify_ansible_candidate_pre_decision_evidence(
+        snapshot=snapshot,
+        project_id="awoooi",
+    )
+
+    assert verified is True
+    assert "CAST(mcp_health AS jsonb)" in statements[0]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_backfill_skips_when_worker_disabled(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
     from src.jobs import awooop_ansible_candidate_backfill_job as job